Sun --
If anyone is judging other people for the way they play Football Manager, they're taking themselves and their opinions far too seriously.
Heh. Please explain this. Does this judgment of yours mean that you take yourself far too seriously? As I've said above, I agree that everyone should play the game as they see fit. But when they post on the forum and ask for opinions about cheating, I'm entitled to offer mine. In this particular case, I believe that people who cheat at FM are foolish in that they are only cheating themselves. Your mileage obviously varies. Peace.

Kalemlyco --
No, absolutely not. Trying to match your own personal experience to the game's initial conditions is perfectly reasonable. In my eyes, even setting your initial experience level at a wildly unrealistic level is not cheating. Although you should certainly adjust your objectives in the game to match those inflated starting conditions. Part of the appeal of most strategy games is to have experiences (as far as the game allows) that are unavailable to most of us in real life. The problem comes when we decide how to approach achieving the objectives we've laid out for ourselves at the start. Again, to me, winning every league and cup in sight because I've loaded my team up with the 25 best players in the world seems cheap, pointless and, in the end, unsatisfying. But, obviously, there are quite a few here who disagree. Much the pity.

Cruisey --
You've raised an excellent point. This is what I call "soft cheating" and I mean no criticism by that phrase. Because no game has ever been perfectly crafted, there are often what we may call "misunderstandings" between the designers and the gamer. In these situations, one often needs some sort of workaround to overcome a misunderstood effect. The bottom line here is intentions: if you're replaying a part of the game simply for benefit, then you're cheating. If you're replaying because, say, a command has been misunderstood or because you intended to hit Tab but hit Enter by mistake, then you're with the angels.

To the OP: As long as it makes you happy and it does not affect anyone else, then there's no need to be embarrassed about it.
I'm not so sure. While I agree with the underlying sentiment "It's your game, do what you want", it's often said (mostly by me) that two things bring out one's true personality: alcohol and gaming. As the OP has admitted, "It honestly feels a bit like an addiction". So I guess I find it a little, I don't know, dispiriting because cheating yourself is, ultimately, such a self-defeating activity. As we see here.
As to the definition of cheating, yes, we all have slightly different views of it but, like art, we all pretty much know it when we see it.

Copying over an idea from another thread just to get it on the official record:
So there we were, me and the Woof (my dog -- he handles training), managing a poopy little backwater team in the NI2 in a sixty-seven-league database extravaganza. We were both nodding off while the game engine chewed its way through a couple of match-heavy days in October 2018 when, all of a sudden, it hit me: why not generate a simple beep (the game, not Woof) when it comes back from one of its ten-minute computational snoozefests? That way, we could continue uninterrupted with our educational endeavors (primarily watching Melrose Place reruns) and not have to check back minute-by-minute to see if the electron gods had finally returned control of our computer to us. As a bonus, we'd suggest that this massively-important step forward be added as an optional checkbox for those who don't need it and that the game signal with an increasing number of beeps the longer the computer run goes. Yes, yes, we know, me and the Woof need to get out more. We shall try.

Keeping the psychoanalysis out of it, I'll just say that I'm a bit perplexed at cheaters in single-player games such as FM. To paraphrase the old saw, FM is a journey, not a destination. Winning all of the top honors is great fun and immensely satisfying if you've actually earned it, otherwise what's the point? I've had fun clawing my way up the leagues but I think the most entertaining parts of my careers have been fighting against relegation with a patched-up, injury-plagued bunch of misfits. So...my recommendation to the OP is to find the poopiest team around and save them on behalf of the 92 loyal, long-suffering fans who will show up for each game.

Me and the Woof don't mind the ten-minute wait, we just go over and play Cities Skylines for a while. We'd just like to know when we can come back. The only other thing we have to do all day is check the mailbox for all those big dividend checks. They just keep coming. Maybe somebody should add a beep for those as well.

So there we were, me and the Woof (my dog -- he handles training), managing a poopy little backwater team in the NI2 in a sixty-seven-league database extravaganza. We were both nodding off while the game engine chewed its way through a couple of match-heavy days in October 2018 when, all of a sudden, it hit me: why not generate a simple beep (the game, not Woof) when it comes back from one of its ten-minute computational snoozefests? That way, we could continue uninterrupted with our educational endeavors (primarily watching Melrose Place reruns) and not have to check back minute-by-minute to see if the electron gods had finally returned control of our computer to us. As a bonus, we'd suggest that this massively-important step forward be added as an optional checkbox for those who don't need it and that the game signal with an increasing number of beeps the longer the computer run goes. Yes, yes, we know, me and the Woof need to get out more. We shall try.

Turnovers. I'd like to see, by team and by player, the number of times my guys cough up the ball. I'd like to know the total number of times in a game each of my under-performing slugs gets tackled, dribbles it off the pitch, gives away a pass, commits a foul or otherwise offers the other team a gift. Some sort of plus/minus rating would be great. Admittedly, it wouldn't be the easiest statistic to calculate properly but even a rough approximation would help me understand why we lose. There have been so many times that a defender has coughed up the ball, giving the enemy striker an easy shot on goal but my keeper gets tagged with the rating demerit. A turnover stat would help pinpoint the problem.

Well, first off, I agree that there's no obvious plug-in solution. For me, any shift in tactics depends a lot on the game situation: ahead, behind, quality of opponent and even some more obscure factors such as where we are in the season (fighting relegation, vying for a playoff spot, whatever). Generally, I tend to go defensive with counterattacks, probably start playing longball and maybe narrow up a bit.

I doubt very much it's a bug. Many refusals are based on your reputation (or lack thereof) or that of the club. Or poor training facilities. Or a lousy coaching staff. Or a couple of other aspects of your club's operation. Maybe the agent hates you. Beyond those types of factors, it shouldn't be so hard to believe that the game models a number of players for whom a professional football career is not at the center of their universe. You've got a 5k wage budget to throw at him, maybe he's already making 10k at a computer tech firm three blocks from his house.

1. The money is already "in the club". It's not an expenditure, it's an allocation that you are allowed to spend. The club's bank balance hasn't changed and will not if you don't use it. You may, of course, be able to convert some of it into your wage budget using the slider.
2. A couple of years ago, SI tightened up the (previously exorbitant) amount of money you could make from higher-league friendlies. You must pick and choose much more carefully now. Concentrate on bringing in nearby clubs; travel expenses and fees seem much higher now.
3. Parent clubs won't cost you anything; rather, they usually bring in money one way or another (direct fees, home friendlies). There's no specific cost for a feeder club; it depends on the club selected and, I suspect, the relative strength between the two clubs. It may not cost anything.
4. I believe it's mostly based on club reputation. I've noticed that moving up a division or two doesn't necessarily raise the amount even when it's renegotiated.

Also a no here. My teams don't get many cards at all but they seem reasonably well distributed. When your player gets the first yellow, are you setting him back to easy tackling and no closing down? That would certainly help.

Makes sense to me too. Putting twenty-two really lousy coaches on defender training should produce some, well, really lousy defenders, not hall-of-famers. The only time it should help is if the assigned coach is overloaded. Then the additional staff should improve the training from a reduced level but, still, not above the rating of the best coach. In short, quality is not additive. Just because one female goalkeeping coach can produce a new goalie in nine months doesn't mean nine coaches can punch one out in, well, you know...